The INSPIRE University Transportation Center (UTC) held its annual meeting in a teleconference format August 10-11, 2021. A graduate student poster session was open to graduate students from all INSPIRE UTC institutions including City College of New York, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Nevada at Reno, and University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

The winning students and posters are:

• First Place: “A Human-Embodied Drone for Dexterous Aerial Manipulation” by Dongbin Kim, graduate student in mechanical engineering at University of Nevada at Las Vegas; advisor INSPIRE UTC Principal Investigator: Dr. Paul Oh
• Second Place: “Autonomous Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement using Martlet Wireless Sensing Integrated with a Steel Climbing Mobile Robot” by Yu Otsuki, a graduate assistant in civil and environmental engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology; advisor INSPIRE UTC Principal Investigator: Dr. Yang Wang
• Third Place: “INSPIRE UTC Bridge Inspection Field Campaign Update-2021” by Pu Jiao, graduate student in civil engineering at Missouri S&T; advisor Dr. Genda Chen, Director INSPIRE UTC

INSPIRE UTC stands for “Inspecting and Preserving Infrastructure through Robotic Exploration University Transportation Center.” The transportation center brings together experts in civil engineering, electrical engineering, engineering management and computer science to develop safer, more efficient, and cost-effective methods for bridge inspection and maintenance, which include the use of nondestructive evaluation devices and remotely-controlled robotic platforms.

Additional activities included presentations on technical research by faculty, an executive meeting, an external advisory committee meeting and awards ceremony.

Learn more about the center at inspire-utc.mst.edu.